igo ST NICOTINE 



appearance. From the first planting of tobacco in the 

 Philippines until July, 1881, the entire industry had been in 

 the hands of the Spanish Government, who visited illicit 

 production with severe pains and penalties. Yet, notwith- 

 standing the vigilance of the mounted police who scoured 

 the country districts to strike terror into the lawless, the 

 natives living far up the mountain glens of Ylocos and Pan- 

 gasinan, though leading the roving life of huntsmen, con- 

 trived to cultivate patches of the tobacco-plant, for which they 

 always found a ready sale to the traders who at the proper 

 season visited the neighbourhood. 



Since the monopoly was abolished, private enterprise, 

 stirred by the wholesome stimulus of competition, has 

 developed and improved the tobacco industry very consider- 

 ably, with the help of large numbers of diligent hard-toiling 

 Chinamen. This important branch of commerce in Manila 

 provides employment for twenty thousand women and six- 

 teen thousand men. The men are employed almost wholly 

 in making cigarillos for Home consumption ; while to the 

 women is allotted the more important task of cheroot-making 

 for exportation. Here the great factories are situated, each 

 of which affords accommodation for about a thousand work- 

 people. The men and women work in separate factories ; 

 those for the women are divided into long rooms along the 

 whole length of which are ranged low tables. At each table 

 a dozen young women are seated, presided over by an old 

 woman whose duty is to try and maintain order among the 

 girls and see that there is no waste of material, for to each 

 table a certain quantity of tobacco is weighed out. If the 

 proportionate number of cigars is not produced, woe betide 

 the hapless one : on pay day deductions for waste come into 

 the reckoning. 



But however interesting the workers and their work may 



